Deadly Premonition is one of the strangest video games of all time. Some of that is on purpose, since the game is a supernatural thriller inspired by Twin Peaks, and some of it is not, because the game is riddled with technical issues and half-broken gameplay. Or at least the original version of the game was, this director’s cut is controversial because fans have actually been campaigning for the game not to be improved.

They’re not being perverse though, and Dead Premonition is absolutely not a game that’s ‘so bad it’s good’. It is instead an experience whose already peculiar atmosphere is actually enriched by its control and graphical issues.

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The game casts you as FBI agent Francis York Morgan (York to his friends or indeed anyone that will talk to him), who arrives in the rural town of Greenvale to investigate the ritual murder of a young woman. York is a bizarre character who enjoys winding up the local hicks and appears to have a split personality that he refers to as ‘Zach’.

For the purposes of the game Zach is you the player, as York cuts off conversations mid flow to discuss the case with you or rambles on about his favourite DVDs while driving around the countryside. York’s other eccentricities include soothsaying by staring into a cup of coffee and openly admitting to skiving off work when he can’t be bothered. He doesn’t even seem to be in the town of Greenvale on official business, but simply practising his profiling skills.

Given his fragile state of mind this soon leads you to question whether the zombies he keeps shooting are only in his head, but in reality he’s still one of the saner characters in the game. From your nutty hotel landlady to the town’s gas mask-wearing millionaire and his rhyming assistant nobody in the game is either fully rational or what they first appear.

There’s a shopping list of changes and additions to this director’s cut, including a new opening and framing device, a branching ending, and various other new scenes and scenarios. They all connect up very well though and a new player is unlikely to be able to tell the new from the old. We wouldn’t go so far as to say any of the story additions were actually necessary, but equally they don’t feel shoehorned in for the sake of it.

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The other big change is the visuals, which creator Hidetaka ‘SWERY’ Suehiro describes as a ‘complete graphical overhaul’. It’s absolutely nothing of the kind and although some textures and character models are improved many are not, and it’s very easy to spot when the game switches between using new and old assets. Most of the voice recordings are the same but there’s a weird echo effect on some lines that we’re pretty sure isn’t on purpose.

That all adds to the dreamlike atmosphere though, and is very much in keeping with the game’s strange legacy. But what’s more problematic is the frame rate, which is often much slower than the Xbox 360 version. Although the fact that it’s at its worst in one of the earliest scenes, and barely ever that bad again, has us half-wondering whether it’s some sort of meta challenge to see how willing you really are to play the game.

The third person combat sequences are clearly inspired by Resident Evil 4, with a similarly clunky control system that refuses to let you move and shoot. This time there’s also a new lock-on system that gets you quickly pointing in the right direction, although the slightly improved camera means it’s not essential.

Some good sound design and purposefully unreliable weapons gift the combat a similar sense of foreboding to Resident Evil 4, and arguably it’s actually scarier. The quick time event sequences with the raincoat killer are particularly effective, especially the chase sequences.

But this is just one relatively small element of the game and for much of its generous playtime you’ll be driving around in your car (which now only handles like a shopping trolley, rather than a broken roller skate) following up leads – or simply exploring and talking to Greenvale’s unhinged inhabitants. They all move about and interact with each other regardless of your actions, so many of the mysteries and side quests are only revealed if you’re in the right place at the right time.

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Plenty of other games have an open world setting but these often prove to be sterile environments that have clearly been constructed purely for the player’s benefit. Greenvale though feels far more like a real location, and offers not just the freedom to explore but to choose whether or not to shave in the morning or take the day off and go fishing.

We still can’t decide whether the voice-acting is purposefully bad or a reflexive reaction to the oddly constructed dialogue, but somehow it all works in context. Similarly, you assume the developers are purposefully playing inappropriately chirpy music as you explore a brutal murder scene, but the game never quite lets you in on the joke.

However much of Deadly Premonition’s charm was planned and how much is the happy accident of its translation it’s impossible to be sure, but you’ll quickly grow to love York and the cast of oddballs. York in particular is one of the most memorably charismatic in all gaming, and although it’s perfectly reasonable to wish he was in a game with state-of-the-art presentation we find it impossible to separate the man from the game.

Others though will simply judge the game based purely on its looks (it was originally intended to be a PlayStation 2 game and it still shows) and its combat, but although that’s perfectly understandable it also completely misses the point.

If you play your role as Zach properly you begin to appreciate a game that is genuinely innovative in its approach to narrative and character. Despite its Lynchian influences it isn’t trying to be a movie at all, as it leaves it up to you rather than the cut scenes to dictate how much time you spend with characters and side details.

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We’re still not convinced the game actually needed a director’s cut though, or why this one ignores the Xbox 360 gamers who made the original a hit. 3D and PlayStation Move support are hardly the sort of things we walked away from the original wishing it had, and although adding them spoils nothing it seems an odd use of time and resources.

The idea of downloadable content is equally strange, but it’s all inoffensive extra costumes and items. We’re not quite sure why the difficultly levels have been removed though, and replaced with a single mode that’s halfway between Easy and Normal. Again none of this detracts from the game and apart from the frame rate the other additions do offer a, very slight, improvement.

But the game’s key strengths remain its bizarre atmosphere and cast of characters. Rather than being defined by ordinary technical standards you’re still not sure what is intended by the script, what is an accident of design, and what is solely in your own head. David Lynch would be proud.

In Short: As unique a vision as video gaming has ever seen and one able to use its many incompetencies – including the new ones – to entertain and surprise.

Pros: Some of the strangest characters and situations in all gaming. A huge range of hidden secrets and some very effective horror sequences. Peculiarly appropriate presentation.

Cons: The graphics are now inconsistent instead of outright terrible, but the frame rate is definitely worse. Strange sound problems with some dialogue. Cut scenes can be a bit too long.